Ruth Allan

Ruth E Allan is a visual and ceramic artist whose has been published, exhibited and collected worldwide.  A Washington state native, she grew up on a small farm.  She has a sincere passion for drawing, painting working with clay and carving. 
 

Currently teaching ceramics classes at Wenatchee Valley College, she is also immediate past chairman of the city arts commission; curator and exhibits specialist for the Museum of the Columbia; creates and markets one of a kind porcelain clay vessels that are wheel thrown, hand polished and/or hand carved then raku or saggar fired.  Unlike raku, the subtle yet striking saggar color effects are ‘conjured’ onto the pots during the firing by the placement of minerals and combustibles on or near their surfaces and can also result in austere black, gray and white patterns without the use of stains or glazes.
 

Her Master of Fine Arts in painting and design is from the U of Illinois.  She has been an Artist in Residence in 1997 at the Hap Pottery in Beijing, PR China.
 

Publications that include her work are:  Ceramics Monthly (Jan 1992); “Sawdust Firing, The Complete Potter Series”, Batsford Books, UK England (in USA, U of Pennsylvania Press) 1994; “Best of Pottery” Quarry Books, Rockport, Mass. 1996; “Masking and Resists for Ceramics”: AC Black Pub Ltd UK England 1996;  “Barrel, Pit and Saggar Firing” American Ceramic Society, 2001; Chinese Potters Newsletter, Winter issue, Beijing, PR China 2002; “Alternative Kilns and Firing Techniques: by Andrew Wandless, Lark Books, Pub 2004; “500 Raku” Sterling Pub Co 2011.